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Click to see a gallery of photos from various music cruises, including Cayamo and Kid Rock's Chillin' the Most cruise (this image of Kid on his cruise in 2010: Will Byington).

On Friday, Jan. 21, Taylor Swift will take the stage for another sold-out concert, this time in Mexico. As usual, her fans will be screaming, and Swift will almost definitely treat them to hits such as “Love Story” and “Back to December.” But this time, after the show, fans won’t have to worry about traffic headaches, though some might find themselves a little seasick. After all, they’ll be on water.

The show, aboard Royal Caribbean’s new Allure of the Seas, will take place while it’s docked in the city of Cozumel. Many other cruise concerts, however, are nonstop, multi-day celebrations for all passengers.

Whether it’s just playing on a docked ship, or performing — and then vacationing — among fans who are out to sea, Swift and a long list of other musicians are taking to music-themed cruises, a growing wave in travel and entertainment choices that features artists emphatically rocking the boat. Acts who have played these venues over the years include John Mayer, Zac Brown Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

And Nashville is playing a leading role. At the helm of many of these cruises is Sixthman, an Atlanta-based music cruise company founded by Nashville native Andy Levine. The company first sailed into uncharted territory with a rock-themed cruise in 2001, and it wrapped up the decade with 27 cruises, 10 in the past year alone. Throughout that time, the cruises have been packed with big Nashville names, including Kid Rock, Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller, as well as a handful of rising independent local artists. The cruise Cayamo, like most of Sixthman’s excursions, will take its passengers from south Florida through scenic spots of the Caribbean.

“We’re trying to be the best in the world at bringing like-minded people together on vacation,” Levine says.Continue reading →